1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for waste treatment, and more particularly to a computer-based system which is adapted to process liquid and solid waste and is effective to allow the processed waste to be selectively inputed to a municipal wastewater collection system or to a landfill.
2. Discussion
Waste products, such as oil laden soil and paint, are normally buried within a landfill which is usually regulated under discharge limits found in the United States Federal Industrial Pre-treatment Program, and which is managed by a state and/or local governmental entity. To protect local water suppliers against contamination and to ensure compliance with Federal requirements, these local and state governmental entities closely regulate the type and amount of the waste which may be buried within the landfill.
Liquid waste is normally not allowed to be placed within a typical landfill since such waste usually leaches out from the landfill, contaminating local water tables and the surrounding soil. In fact, even substantially solid waste material has a tendency to leach its liquid constituents into the surrounding environment. For this reason, layers of "sandy-type" material are normally required to be placed over certain volumes of the buried solid waste, in order to substantially prevent such solid waste leaching. Notwithstanding leaching difficulties, many types of solid waste materials are not allowed to be buried within a landfill due to their extremely elevated levels of toxicity. These "non-landfill" materials are usually incinerated or otherwise disposed of. Such incineration is both costly and environmentally hazardous, since toxic gaseous by-products are often released into the atmosphere as a consequence of such incineration.
There is therefore a need to provide a waste treatment processing system which is adapted to process solid and liquid waste material in a manner sufficient to allow the processed wastes to be placed within a landfill, purified for later distribution within the surrounding environment, and/or recycled, and is adapted to produce none of the harmful by-products associated with the prior treatment systems.